Browsing by Subject "Assimilation"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    “Assimulation” in the Land of Ten-Thousand Iranian Communities: Public Assimilation Strategies, Private Preservation Identities
    (2016-09) Zank, Tracy
    Early research on Iranians in the global diaspora has demonstrated specific contexts in which Iranians express transnational identity. Much of this research presents and configures “the community” as a harmonious whole through narrow frames of reference, such as ethnic institutions, economic enclaves, majority-minority assessment based on discrimination and prejudice, and inter-generational and gender change. This study addresses the Twin Cities’ Iranian community as a dynamic, dispersed body of relationships and interactions characterized by an institutional fission-fusion pattern with consequences for ethnic group consciousness and individual identification with and expression of Iranianness.  I employ a national and gender identity approach to underscore how Iran’s vacillating political history has crafted modern Iranian men and women, first, in alignment with the West, and then along Islamic ideals. Community, consequently, expands and contracts according to global, micro-macro occurrences. A waning sense of identity incites a centripetal “fusion phase” of institutional life, uniting Iranians through the public celebration of pre-Islamic heritage, privately with extended family, and attempts to teach Persian, a critical tool to navigate the complexities of communication in a hierarchal culture.  Paradoxically, the “fusion phase” presents obstacles in intra-cultural interaction, leading to a “fission effect.” Fissioning eludes national camaraderie and community involvement as individuals assess each other’s location in the social hierarchy.  The analysis of these identity patterns has been explained using transnational approaches with an emphasis on associations forged in power-vying activities aimed to displace authority and reconfigure national narratives. This dissertation explores these social dynamics in the context of the centripetal fusion and centrifugal fission pattern to explain how Twin Cities’ Iranians cultivate community, despite geographic dispersal, through a shared, intimate micro-history forged in a portable ideology that displaces monolithic assumptions of tradition, identity, and belonging.
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    Native American Boarding Schools: Stories of Resilience in the Face of Assimilation
    (2017-12) Peterson, Jeanne R
    This research investigated the boarding school stories of three Native American's; Esther Burnett Horne, Adam Fortunate Eagle, and Paul Buffalo. All had attended different Midwest boarding schools, and some during different eras of the boarding school years. The perspective on different boarding schools and the different eras showed the changes that occurred during those years and how government and cultural attitude began to shift. The focus of this research shows how these individuals were able to find their innate resilience. In addition to resilience, other themes manifested; security, militaristic education, and the relationship with boarding school staff. The outcome of the research shows that the presence and guidance of Native American staff at the boarding schools, along with other Native American children, allowed these three individuals to maintain their Indian identity against the overwhelming assimilistic tactics of the United States government among the confines of militaristic schools. Native American children found boarding school staff, especially Native American staff, to be their connection to hope. With the proper tools, these Native American children showed great resilience in the face of assimilation. The guidance of the boarding School staff, was the core reason that, Essie Burnett Horner, Adam Fortunate Eagle and Paul Buffalo found the pathway to success. The presence of security bolstered them, in spite of the militaristic education they received, and allowed them to persevere. They were equipped with the right tools to navigate the uncertain terrain of their lives, and were able to follow the good red road.
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    Social capital networking and immigrant populations in rural Minnesota : a qualitative research project.
    (2011-02) Laeger-Hagemeister, Mary A.
    Combining social capital theory and immigration history and theory a qualitative study was conducted using a variation of Critical Incident Technique to identify the motivations of individuals in rural communities who championed community responses to the influx of large immigrant populations. Twenty-eight individuals identified as key champions in two rural communities were interviewed to determine, how they as formal or non-formal leaders sanctioned, promoted, supported, and encouraged others to engage in successful strategies to ease successful transitions of new immigrants into their communities. Interviews determined what individual champions did, how they did it, and their sources of motivation. Data analysis revealed three themes: 1) Fear of change in the community; 2) Collaboration as the road to success; 3) Communities and schools recognizing immigrants as key to continued growth. Analysis also revealed two key components influencing leaders to intentionally work with immigrant integration: 1) An understanding of their own immigration history; and 2) a previous experience of caring for or being "the other." These factors helped create the linking networks or weak ties between the host community and the immigrant communities. The findings and recommendations provide insight and recommendations for weaving diversity into community development and leadership programs that business leaders and other stakeholders in rural communities can use. Community leadership programs must be intentional in providing cross-cultural education for participants. The curriculum must include participants deliberating, getting to know their own cultural values, cultural communication patterns, personal and national immigration history, and diverse ways of looking at the world. In addition community leaders need opportunities to learn what it means to be the outsider.